Julius Meinl Living has completed the purchase of Ambasador Hotel in Bucharest, with the project set to undergo a major revamp and reopen as The Julius Bucharest in 2027.

The Dornych project by Crestyl Group is to replace the old shopping centre in the neighbourhood of Brno's Central Station in the upcoming years. The developer has now announced a hotel as a part of this development. Its opening is planned for mid-2028.

Mitiska REIM has announced the sale of a 6.7ha land plot in Gliwice (Silesia, Poland) to Momentum Leisure to develop a theme and water park at Europa Centralna retail centrre The price has not been disclosed. 

Marriott International, Inc., announced its plans to expand its portfolio in Poland with the expected addition of more than 10 properties in the next few years, including the debut of two brands - Le Méridien and Element Hotels by Westin - in the market. The anticipated openings will further enhance the company’s footprint in the country, where it currently has a portfolio of 24 properties and over 4,500 rooms across 12 brands and eight cities - Warsaw, Sopot, Kraków, Poznań, Katowice, Wrocław, Gdynia and Szczecin. 

Businessman Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former US President Donald Trump, is now venturing into the Balkans with ambitious plans for transformative property developments across Albania and Serbia. Through his Miami-based private equity firm, Affinity Partners, Kushner is engaged in advanced discussions for investments exceeding $1 billion, aiming to reshape the landscape of tourism and real estate in Southeast Europe, the New York Post reports.

The highest hotel in Prague, Corinthia has joined the Czech Inn Hotels chain, reports Newstream.cz. The plan is to gradually modernize the hotel and revitalize the rooms, but with great emphasis on preserving the unique character and historical value of the building.

The first Ibis Styles hotel will open on the Romanian seaside this summer following a franchise agreement signed by Accor and Paradis Hotels & Resort, a company owned by Romanian entrepreneur Aurelian Marin.

Global hotel operator Accor Group will introduce its premium hotel brand Pullman after taking over the management role at Hard Rock Hotel in Budapest. The opening is scheduled for the end of March 2024.

The occupancy rate in Bucharest’s hotel market was up 5% in 2023 compared to the previous year, but it remains around 10% under 2019. However, average revenue per room was up 12%, which is higher than in pre-pandemic times, according to a Cushman & Wakefield Echinox report.

Experts of Cushman & Wakefield expect transactional activity on the Polish hotel market to pick up in 2024 as key performance indicators continue to improve and the pressure on investors to allocate capital builds up. Although 2023’s total investment volume on the Polish market was below that of 2019, it reached nearly €83 million - an 82% increase year-on-year. Warsaw, Vilnius and Edinburg are the only main European hotel markets that reported year-on-year growth in occupancy levels last year. At the same time, Warsaw came third for ADR growth (EUR) in 2023, with an increase of 20.1% year-on-year.